by Ben Winston
"Commander, would it be possible to destroy those weapons without releasing them?" the Ambassador asked.
"Yes it would, but we are talking about a virtual can of worms here. Simply destroying the facility they are in would be catastrophic. We would have to send a team down there to physically decompose each and every sample, warhead, and containment area using a replicator or drone. Even then, there is nothing to say they can't simply remake the weapons.
"Some of the samples the biological weapons are made of are used to create vaccines to use against a natural outbreak of the diseases. We would have to remain watchful and destroy the new weapons as soon as they are made. That would take personnel and resources we will probably need against the Drellians," Greg replied. "As for the nuclear arsenals we are talking about a heck of a lot of bombs. Most nations have scaled down versions they call 'tactical' warheads that have a smaller explosive radius but are still as radioactive as the larger weapons."
One of the Officers from Earth and American Admiral nodded agreement. "Considering the state of hostilities down here right now, if you started destroying those weapons, we'd probably get orders to use what we had left before they could be destroyed. I wouldn't comply with that order of course, but I can't say the same thing of other commanders." He shook his head. "Just our submarines have enough fire power to mess things up pretty badly, and I'm pretty sure all of them are still loyal to the government."
The Ambassador sadly shook her head. "We don't need to worry about the Drellians destroying your planet while those weapons exist. Those insane people will do it for them."
"I think the Ambassador is correct," Prince Edward said. "The whole concept of mutually assured destruction is utterly daft. If those weapons were to be ever actually used there would be no need for retaliation; the country using them would be killing themselves just by using them, to begin with. I will speak to my brother and our military leaders. I've never understood how weapons of mass destruction can be classified as 'defensive'. If I can convince them to allow the dismantling of our arsenal, perhaps other nations will follow suit."
"That would be a good place to start, thank you, your Highness," Greg said.
"I'd like to offer up the weapons under my control as well, but I just can't do that yet. Perhaps once the United States is able to restore a functional Government, the people can be convinced to allow it, but until then, I feel I need to keep them safe. I won't use them, but I feel this decision isn't one I can make on my own," the Admiral replied.
The other generals and senior officers present nodded agreement.
"Fair enough. As long as there's no chance they'll be used, that'll do for now," Greg replied. "We still have to worry about the war we are facing. We all know that while they might not have permission to use them yet, the Chinese Fleets are equipped with nuclear weapons at least. We need to stop this mess from getting worse."
"If I may, I might have a suggestion about that," the Ambassador replied.
"Please, Madam Ambassador, that's why I asked you here," Greg replied.
She smiled at him. "This is a very difficult situation, so difficult it is almost beyond the understanding of many of my fellow Ambassadors. Why don't we begin the capture and isolation of the leaders of this 'shadow' government you spoke of. As new people move up to fill in the holes, we capture them as well. It seems eventually, they will either run out of people or be forced to go to ground thus rendering them ineffectual. Either way, the threat is removed. As for the forces now threatening the peace, the threat of using force to stop them is not the actual use. If they are no longer receiving orders from the aforementioned individuals, they will be forced to face us on their own. I am certain many of them have no idea exactly what kind of military we have up here."
Greg was quiet for a few moments as he thought her suggestion through. She did have a point about the leaders. "Generals? Your thoughts?"
"It has a great deal of merit, Commander. If we cut the head off the dragon, the body will die. The problem in that comes from how much damage the body can do in the process. The problem with the threat of your military intervention is that it wouldn't be believed without at least one, possibly two examples being made." He held up a hand to stop the words Greg was about to say. "We all know how you feel about that, Commander. Luckily, there are targets that can be selected that would either minimize or eliminate the potential for loss of life."
"Please explain, General," Greg asked.
"The Chinese have built these massive disaster cities, deep inland. They are usually completely abandoned except for the guards that keep people out. The US thought they were built because China had been planning to launch their weapons against the west for years. If you destroy one or more of those, that should send a very clear message to Beijing without significant loss of life.
"For the Russian Federation, you could always 'clean up' Chernobyl and make it look like a military strike. Those are the only spots I can think of right off the top of my head. Unfortunately, there isn't any place you could hit that would make Tripoli take notice without massive casualties. Those folks like to build communities around their weapons to protect them; it's part of the whole terror thing I guess."
Greg nodded his thanks to the man. "Carl, Jared? Can we do this?" Greg asked.
"That actually depends, Greg," Jared replied.
"On what?" Greg asked.
Jared smiled sadly. "On whether or not Admiral Rawlings is still loyal to the Shadow Government, or if he has really changed sides."
The Admiral shook his head and snorted. "I should have known better than to try to get past you!" He took a drink from his coffee mug. "I can't exactly change sides, they can get to my family far too easily. But, I don't agree with this shit they are pulling now. When you do begin to round up the key players, be sure to include me as well as Admiral George. I'd appreciate it if you could rescue my family too, but maybe they'll be safe as long as they think I haven't broken faith.
"One thing you all need to keep in mind here; no matter what they do, you are their primary target. They want what you have and they are willing to murder most of the planet to get it. Yes, they are trying to start a world war; it's good for business and it gives people something else to focus on. In a couple of months, they may even take over openly. Once they have your tech and have your people under control, they most certainly will. They have some pretty detailed plans for all of you; trust me, none of you want them to succeed. They already have several research labs set up for when they get any of your techs.
If your plan is to actually work, you'll need to grab all of us. If any of us are still able to give orders once you make your examples they will be totally ignored. North Korea will not stop no matter what examples you make. They've been given permission to take the south and they are already on their way. They will use tactical nukes on the American military bases as well as Seoul. The Chinese have been given permission to use tactical weapons as well, but the big stuff is still sidelined.
"When you take us out of the picture, you'll need to be very careful of China; they won't hesitate to open that toy-box and kill everyone. Those idiots actually believe they are immune simply because they are Chinese. I'll try to get everything I know about their weapons on a thumb drive before you get here to arrest me. You should find it when you search me for weapons. I'll include a listing of all the major players as well as all the data I have access too on weapons and who has them."
"Be sure to include the names and locations of your family, Admiral," Greg replied. "If you are helping us, we'll help you. You may have to answer for other crimes, but I'm sure you can be absolved of this one."
The Admiral nodded. "Thank you, Commander. Just for the record, I take the oaths I made very seriously. Up until now, those oaths didn't really contradict each other, not in any major way. I mean, the Cabal are a bunch of self-serving egomaniacs, but there was a balance. I felt what was done was actually for the greater good. Now, they are obsessed with y
ou. This shit going on now is total insanity. They have to be stopped and you folks are the only force capable of doing that." He sighed. "Commander, I know how you feel about fighting Earth forces. They know it too and they are using it against you. You're not going to be given a choice." He smiled slightly, "But, I'm sure you'll figure out there are many other ways to stop a naval ship without sinking her. Your problem is going to be the subs. They're the failsafe. They have been given their orders and have been sent to take their pre-attack positions. They are totally dark with orders to make contact at predetermined times. If that contact is missed, they will launch everything they have against their targets. Once they reach those positions, I'm sure someone will let you know what they are doing."
"Jarad, when we get out of here, get with training command and see about arranging some capture teams. I'd like you to handle the retrieval of our guests. Carl, we're going to need a place to put them. Got any idea on that?" Greg asked.
"As a matter of fact, we can use one of the residence areas until we can construct a detention facility. I'll speak to the Greynus construction boss about getting one designed and built," Carl replied making a note to himself. "As for the residential section, we can lock the doors from the outside and keep the hallways depressurized. If we restrict replicator use to only specific food items, and atmosphere, they should be fine and we won't even need guards, just someone to monitor them and their health.
"What do we do with them once we get them, though; are we planning on holding them indefinitely without any trial or due process?" Sharon asked.
"We will do what we can, Ranger," The Ambassador replied. "It might be difficult to find any who are impartial enough to sit in judgment of them, but we will do what we can for them."
"If none of them have broken any laws, what will they be tried for?" Joyce asked.
"We have all broken laws, Ranger," Admiral Rawlings replied. "The laws themselves might not be written down anywhere, but they were broken none the less. Species suppression; I know for a fact that certain technologies that would have improved life on this planet greatly have been blocked, intentionally discredited, or otherwise repressed in order to keep us under control and dependent on certain products and industries as well as contained on this planet.
"Ironically enough, much of the tech that they want from you is already available down here, they want control of you and your tech. They do have plans to use it for their own purposes, but for the most part, they want to keep exclusive control of it," the Admiral finished. "As for the laws you were speaking of; just dig a little deeper. Slavery, rape, murder, conspiracy to commit murder, mass murder, drugs, every nasty, dirty thing you can think of they are involved in it. Until now, they've been so far above the law that they know they can do whatever they want and get away with it. Trust me, most of them have too."
"What a mess. Look, let's just get them out of power and return that power to the people of the planet. We can figure out what to do with the ass-holes once everyone is safe again," Greg replied.
"Okay, so what about those submarines, Greg?" Jared asked.
"While you are rounding up the bad guys, the rest of the rangers and I will be hunting them down. We'll disable them in some way to prevent them from being able to fire their missiles and damage them in such a way that they will have to return to base for repairs. Failing that, we'll force them to abandon ship and sink the sub," Greg replied. "We'll call for a shuttle to retrieve the crew. Too bad we don't have a ship capable of lifting that much weight, we'd just pick them up and take them home."
"Mining ships can; they're not built for atmospheric operations, but they've certainly got the engines for it. You'll have to grab them from the surface, though, I don't think they would do well under water," Carl replied.
"Don't be too sure about that, Governor!" Fixer Arless replied. "The original design for the Miners has no intakes anywhere on the craft. They are heavily armored against projectiles as well as hard impacts. They'd be little more than a slow-moving target for the Drellians, but on Earth, they'd be a flying tank capable of lifting the immense weight. They wouldn't be very fast, but they could lift the ships. As far as going under to get them, Unless they on the bottom of The Trench, I wouldn't bet against the little buggers being able to grab them."
"Okay, then the Rangers will pull double duty; locate and track any and all submarines that have nuclear weapons on board, as well as convincing other warships to return to their bases," Greg said. "A lot of work for just a few of us, but for right now, it's all we have. Once Jared has secured this 'Cabal', one of us will go and flatten one of those disaster cities. Then I'll call Beijing and give them the good news. That same Ranger will fly to the old abandoned city of Chernobyl and do the same thing. Joyce can call Moscow and let them know. We'll worry about cleaning up the reactor there later. Joyce and her team will work the Atlantic theater, we'll take the Pacific. Generals, please keep our people safe. I won't tell you not to engage if you're attacked. You are allowed to defend yourselves."
"We'll pass the word, Greg. Good luck," one of the men said.
"Ranger Jared, I'll get that data assembled and await your arrival," Rawlings said.
"We'll grab a few others first, Admiral. There'll be less suspicion on you that way." Jared replied. "We probably won't get to you until this evening."
"So I should treat you as hostile, then?" Rawlings asked.
"Sir, you won't even know we're there until we arrest you," Jared replied. On his notepad, Jared sent a message to Abraxis to monitor all communications coming from the Admiral's ship and to jam any that are made to a known member of the Cabal.
"Now, as for the ground forces. There isn't a lot we can do about them. We'll have to find and destroy the North Korean missiles before they can be launched…"
"Uh, Greg," Mandi said. "Do you remember that dust-up we had with the two space shuttles that came up here to invade us?"
"Of course," Greg replied.
"Well, In your mission logs, you asked for the ability to pulse a target with electro-magnetics. So I added a modification to your particle cannons that will enable you to emit a semi-wide area electron burst. It's the same principle as the stunner we use for the retrieval teams but uses a different particle. It'll still stun humans, but it'll also fry anything electronic. Be careful with it, though, at very high intensity, it'll be like hitting them with a bolt of lightening except that even shielded stuff should be knocked out," Mandi explained. "Uh, it'll work on the ships too, but I wouldn't recommend using it under water."
Vicinity of Earth Orbit
Deep Space, Sol System
Ranger Fighter Harkness Thyreen looked out at the beautiful blue planet through the forward view screens. It did indeed look much like his home world. Except that this world was teeming with life while his world was now lifeless. A victim of the Empire he served.
During his long trip to get here, he had a grand argument with the computer about where he should start. The computer wanted him to begin in a large country called China. In the Computer's opinion, that nation had the best structure for the mission they were on.
Harkness disagreed. The smaller country of the United States had a much better, if more difficult to understand, structure that would be ideal for Harkness' mission. The rampant greed, mistrust, and paranoia was almost perfect for what he wanted to accomplish. Add the industrial capabilities of that nation and he felt it could be everything he would need.
He had approached the planet while the moon was on the far side. As he orbited the world, the moon came into view. His computer immediately spoke up.
"Harkness, there are extensive facilities built on that moon. I am detecting a large amount of advanced technology. It would appear the Abraxian Rangers have been busy. There is a very large ore processing facility up there, and I am detecting a large orbital construction project as well. It appears they are building a large shipyard facility."
"Are we too late? Have the Abraxian Rangers gotten th
e cooperation of the planet?" Harkness asked rhetorically.
The more literal computer answered him. "It doesn't appear so, in fact, I am detecting a great deal of confusion in the public broadcasting of the planet. It almost looks like they are on the brink of all-out war. There are several reports in the media of increased tensions as well as the massing of troops and deployment of sea-going warships. I'm not certain, but it seems as though there is a great deal of civil unrest in your target nation. The Abraxian Rangers have exposed a plot that has discredited the governments of the world. The people are ready to rebel, but so far have not. Harkness, this is not the same world we were sent here to cultivate. Much has changed radically from what we were to expect." It paused for a few moments. "I recommend we hold position and observe to get a better idea of what are dealing with. Further, I feel we need to report the activities of the Abraxian Rangers to Prime immediately."
"No!" Harkness yelled and leaped out of his chair towards his terminal. "If you try to send anything, those rangers will detect it and blow us out of space. Do not send any transmissions without my express permission! If you do we will fail in our mission."
"You're reasoning is logical Ranger. I agree to not send in my reports unless you agree it is safe to send them," the computer replied.
Harkness sighed. "Good, I'm sorry for the outburst; there is much riding on this mission and we must be extra careful in our actions here. The slightest mistake and our mission will fail. I doubt very much if my Lord Emperor or the Prime Nexus would be very pleased with us."
"You are correct of course. No apology is required, Ranger. You acted promptly and accurately."
Harkness nodded and moved over to the replicator. During the trip, he had tried and adapted to various types of Earth food and beverages. As he took his coffee from the receptacle, he once again wondered how Prime had gotten such detailed information about this planet when any Drellian presence was immediately destroyed.
